What My Old Marketing Professor Can Teach You About Freelancing

Editor’s Note: If you’ve ever been told a freelancing horror story by a well-meaning friend or relative, this post is for you.

Professor MacDougall was an old marketing professor of mine.

He had a favourite catch phrase. And he was deadly, sometimes even menacing, with it. What I remember was the way he used to use it. Not really as a teaching aide, but rather like a weapon, which is why I remember this catch phrase, some 14 years after hearing it for the first time.

“NEVER a sample of one!” Professor MacDougall would scream, usually directly at a student, and always in response to the student’s attempt to support his or her argument, theory or idea with an anecdote; a story about a personal experience.

What Professor MacDougall was trying to teach us was, in marketing, it’s dangerous to let your own isolated experience (or the experience of any other one person) lead you to draw a general, sweeping conclusion about the subject matter.

Instead you should look around a little. Do some research. Get more info.

Ol’ MacDougall was right, of course. Relying solely on a “sample of one” is unwise. In marketing, it rarely serves us well. And in real life, it can be downright debilitating.

However, in real life, we allow a “sample of one” to sway us all the time…

The movie rental store employee says to us, “Actually, that movie was disappointing.” So we put the DVD back on the shelf, or decide to rent a second, different movie, just as a backup.

Your friend says, “Oh, Jeff and Allison went to that new place and the service was terrible.” So you decide not to take a chance, and make dinner reservations at your old stand-by instead.

Of course, the repercussions of movie or restaurant choices are rarely severe, but what happens when you start listening to a sample of one when it comes to bigger issues, like your career?

Perhaps you once told a friend or relative about your interest in becoming a freelancer, only to hear this motivating response…

“Oh, Susan’s brother tried to be a freelance photographer, I think, and he starved. Now he works at a camera store.”

How unfortunate for Susan’s brother… but who says that also has to be your fate?

Yes, there are examples of people who, when they encountered failure, decided to give up and go work in a camera store. And many well-meaning friends and family have no shortage of these examples to share with you when you express to them your desire to “join the circus” as Chris Brogan calls it. (Read: start your own solo-business.)

But know this. There are plenty of examples of successful solo professionals out there. People who tried, failed, maybe failed again, maybe even went into debt (and perhaps more than once) and decided not to give up but instead to persevere. (You’ll find some of them have written for, or commented throughout, this blog.)

Forget about Susan’s brother, the freelancer who failed and gave up. That isn’t you. That poor sap’s story is merely a sample of one. Instead, set your sights on your own vision of freelancing success.

Look for people who have done what you want to do. Find out how they got there and learn from them. Do what they did to make their business successful, and then, count yourself among them… the serious, dedicated, shining examples of solo professionals who are, right now, enjoying success and living the freelance life.

Photo courtesy of: dullhunk on Flickr

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Pete Savage is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-creator of The “Launch Email” Technique: The Fastest Way to Attract Good-Paying Clients as a New Freelancer.